Mazhar Abbas

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One year ago Raza Rumi, a TV anchor and widely-respected analyst in Pakistan, narrowly escaped death when gunmen opened fire on his car in an attack that killed his driver, Mustafa. When I wrote about the March 28 attack, the fourth on the Express Group in eight months that had left four people dead, I highlighted the lack of a police investigation.

Representatives from 40 Pakistani and
international press groups, development organizations, and media houses came
together in Islamabad last week to discuss ways to better protect local journalists
at risk of violence, and means to combat the virtually perfect record of
impunity that assailants enjoy in this country. It's none too soon. Three
journalists have died already in Pakistan this year, and more than 40 have been
killed over the past decade. About two dozen have been targeted for murder. On
the eve of the March 6-7 conference, members of an ARY Television news crew
were shot
and beaten by thugs in Hyderabad. The attack attests to the dangerous situation
in Pakistan where journalists routinely face threats from an array of sources; where
reporters working on dangerous beats have little protection; and where law enforcement
response to anti-press attacks is nearly nonexistent.

Pakistan's media, particularly broadcast, are often praised
and condemned, sometimes in the same sentence. The number of television
broadcasters exploded under the Musharraf government, growing to around 90 private cable and satellite
channels. And while the growth has been swift and competitive, very
often the end product leaves a lot to be desired--as many in the industry
admit.

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Today
is the first anniversary of the killing of Geo TV broadcast reporter Wali Khan Babar
in Karachi, a case that has almost been forgotten,
particularly in the shadow of the release of the judicial
inquiry into the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad. The
report on Shahzad has been posted on the
Ministry of Information's website.

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The memorial service in Washington for
journalist Saleem Shahzad--who was killed around May 29--was held at the
National Press Club this past Monday. Anwar Iqbal, dean of the Pakistani press
corps in Washington, led the ceremony.Ambassador to the U.S. Hussain
Haqqani spoke eloquently about the degree of loss brought by Shahzad's
brutal killing. While many of the speakers called for an investigation into
Shahzad's death, I had a different train of thought. I focused on an idea that
had come up while I was in Karachi this April and May. After all, I thought, too
many special investigations have been commissioned and have
never seen the light of day, and the same thing seems likely to happen in
Shahzad's case. But what if we could have prevented his death in the first
place?

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New York, February 5, 2011--As journalists face
ongoing attacks and detentions in Cairo, they are increasingly concerned that
state broadcasts are creating an atmosphere that is encouraging violence against
the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. State television
and radio, along with pro-Mubarak private stations, are giving frequent airtime
to presenters and guests who claim that foreigners, including international
journalists, have a "hidden agenda" against the government, according to CPJ
research. Local journalists have been called "infidels" for working with
international media while Al-Jazeera has been accused of "inciting the people."